7 Belle's Puppies

8 Before long Belle became the mother of seven brown and white puppies. They had hardly opened their eyes before the marines' regiment got orders to "hike" for another sector. Some might have thought the dog and her pups would be left behind, but this never occurred to her master. He commandeered° a market basket somewhere, put the pups into it and let Verdun Belle trot behind.

9 In spite of the fact that the amount of equipment° which each marine carries on the march is supposed to be all that a man can possibly carry, this marine somehow found strength to carry the extra weight of the basket. Forty miles he carried his burden along the parched French highway. But then came an order to march even farther and reluctantly the marine was forced to give up the basket. Mournfully he killed four of the puppies, but the other three he slipped into his shirt front.

10 "Then he trudged on his way, carrying these three, pouched in forest green, as a kangaroo carries its young, while the mother dog trotted trustingly behind."

11 Belle is Lost

12 Another of the pups died on the long march, and somewhere in the tremendous procession of marching men and the endless lines of trucks and wagons Belle herself got lost. The marine was at his wits' end to keep the two puppies alive. Finally he hailed the crew of an ambulance passing back from the front, turned the pups over to them, and disappeared with his comrades. The ambulance men were unable to induce the pups to eat canned beef and they had no fresh milk. They chased a couple of cows vainly.

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13 "Next morning the problem was still unsolved. But it was solved that evening. For a fresh contingent of marines trooped by the farm and in their wake — tired, anxious, but undiscouraged — was Verdun Belle. Ten kilometers back, two days before, she had lost her master, and until she should find him again she evidently had thought that any marine was better than none.

14 "The troops did not halt at the farm, but Belle did. At the gates she stopped dead in her tracks, drew in her lolling tongue, sniffed inquiringly the evening air and like a flash a white streak along the driveshe raced to the distant tree where, on a pile of discarded dressings in the shade, the pups were sleeping.

15 "All the corps men stopped work and marvelled. It was such a family reunion as warms the heart. For the worried mess sergeant it was a great relief. For the pups it was a mess call, clear and unmistakable."

16 Belle Finds Her Master

17 So with only one worry left in her mind Verdun Belle settled down with her puppies at this field hospital. In a day or two the wounded began coming in, a steady stream. Always a mistress of the art of keeping out from under foot, very quietly Belle hung around and investigated each ambulance that turned in from the main road and backed up with its load of pain.

18 "Then one evening they lifted out a young marine, listless in the half stupor of shell shock. To the busy workers he was just case number such and such, but there was no need to tell any one who saw the wild jubilance of the dog that Verdun Belle had found her

own.

19 "The first consciousness he had of his new surroundings was the feel of her rough pink tongue licking the dust from his face. And those who passed that way last Sunday found two cots shoved together in the kindly shade of a spreading tree. On one the mother dog lay contented with her puppies. Fast asleep on the other, his arm thrown out so that one grimy hand could clutch one silken ear, lay the young marine."

20 It perplexed some of the hospital workers to know what could be done when the time came to send the marine on to the base hospital. "But they knew in their hearts they could safely leave the answer to some one else. They could leave it to Verdun Belle."

The New York Sun, and The Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper published in France by the American Expeditionary Force.

the head-line in a newspaper leatherneck, sailor's slang for soldier

base hospital,20 building where the lead (led), summary of news below wounded are cared for by nurses Château Thierry 3 (shä' to' tye' re'), town in France where the Americans made their first great attack

commandeered 8 (kom an derd'), seized for military purposes contingent 13 (kon tin' jěnt), a number of troops

Madison Square Garden,

large

building in New York City where dog and horse shows are held marine (ma rēn'), soldiers in the U.S. Navy

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mess sergeant 15 (měs' sär' jěnt), non-commissioned officer who attends to the meals

corps 15 (kōr), body of men under a leader discarded dressings 14 (dis kärd' ěd), parapet 5 (păr' a pět), wall of earth bandages thrown away

9

to protect a soldier

equipment (ê kwip' měnt), sol- poilu 5 (pwȧ' lü'), nickname for a dier's baggage French soldier Expeditionary (ěks' pê dish' un â ri), refugee 2 (ref' û jē'), one who flees making an expedition to safety

3

line

in their wake, 13 in the same direc- sector 5 (sěk' ter), part of a curved tion kilometer 13 (kil' ô mē' ter), five Verdun 2 (věr' dŭN'), town in France eighths of a mile long beseiged by the Germans

2.

1. Did the reporter make you see Verdun Belle? How? Which details are given in the story that are not given in the lead? Which are descriptions? Which are incidents? 3. How did the marine show his devotion? 4. How did the dog show her love? 5. Which are the three most thrilling moments in the story? Why? Discuss the pictures.

6. Bring to class a newspaper and be ready to point out head-lines and leads. 7. Read a short newspaper article to the class and ask them to make up the lead. 8. Conversation and discussion: (a) What dogs and pigeons have done in the Great War; (b) How the Ambulance and the Marine Corps differ; (c) The work of the Red Cross. 9. Have a Democracy Day program (Manual).

OLD TREES+ ·

ABRAM J. RYAN

The nation's soldiers and sailors who have given their lives for liberty no longer lie only within the borders of our own land. On Memorial Day we must also think of those who are in the cemeteries of the sea and in the grass-grown land of sunny France. When Father Ryan, a chaplain of the Civil War, wrote this poem he thought mostly of the "Southern dead," for he was serving with the armies of the South. To-day South and North are one. We wish all our brave sailors and soldiers could rest in as peaceful a spot as this poem describes.

Picture the ancient cemetery, with the silent graves sheltered by grand old trees "lone sentinels" guarding our sacred dead. Close your book and listen:

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OLD trees! old trees! in your mystic° gloom

There's many a warrior laid,

And many a nameless and lonely tomb

Is sheltered beneath your shade.

Old trees! old trees! without pomp° or prayer
We buried the brave and the true,

We fired a volley° and left them there
To rest, old trees, with you.

2 Old trees, old trees, keep watch and ward° Over each grass-grown bed;

'T is a glory, old trees, to stand as guard
Over our Southern dead;

Old trees, old trees, we shall pass away
Like the leaves you yearly shed,

But ye! lone sentinels, still must stay,

Old trees, to guard "our dead."

+ Copyrighted and used by permission of P. J. Kenedy and Sons.